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n. J. M. ASHLEY 



— BEFOEK THE — 



■OHro SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, ' 
" " ™ '""" 8^"«»«'' Wednesday evening, Fetary i9, (890. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



! I \ v.; 



New Yokk, February 20, 1890. 







Mt Dear Governor Ashley: 



At the banquet of the Ohio Society of New York last evening, 
the President of the Society Avas, by unanimous vote, directed to 
ask you to furnish to the Society for jjublication a copy of your 
admirable paper on the passage through the House of Eepre- 
sentatives of the United States of the Thirteenth Amendment to 
the Constitution. In performance of this duty, I beg leave to 
present to you their request. 

Let me add, personally, that this formal expression was suji- 
jjlemented individually by every one of those present with 
whom it was my fortune to converse, I am sure that I speak 
for all present in ex^sressing my individual appreciation of the 
greatness and historic value of that action of which you were so 
largely the inspiration, and in which you were the foremost 
actor. 

Yours, very truly, 

WAGEE SWAYNE. 
Hon. J. M. ASHLEY. 



New York, February 21, 1890. 
Genl, Wageb Swayne, 

President Ohio Society of New York, 
195 Broadway. 
My Dear Sir: 

Herewith please find copy of my address as delivered before 
your Society at the fifth annual banquet on the 19th iust. 

It gives me pleasure to comply with a request in which is 
conveyed so complimentary an approval by the Society and your- 
self of the address. 

I only regret that I did not have time to speak more in detail 
of the personality of the immortal twenty-four who voted with 
us, and thiis made possible the passage of the Thirteenth 
Amendment. 

Truly yours, 

J. M. ASHLEY. 



3fr. President and Gentlemen of the Ohio Society of 
Neiu York : 

The official acts of the great actors in the conflict 
of civilization with the barbarism of slavery are 
faithfully recorded in the nation's archives and open 
to the inspection and compilation of the coming his- 
torian. 

You will not expect me to-night to do more than 
briefly notice some few of these men with whom it 
was my good fortune to be associated during the 
time Congress had under consideration the propo- 
sitions to abolish slavery at the National Capitol and 
the Thirteenth Amendment. 

When the story of our great anti-slavery conflict 
shall have been written it will make one of the most 
ideal chapters in our matchless history. 

That chapter will tell the coming generations of 
men the story of the immortal victory achieved by 
the American people for democratic government and 
an undivided Union; a victory whose far-reaching 
consequences no man can even now foresee. 

In the fullness of time to every nation and people 
great leaders are born, and some one or more of these 
earnest leaders, by the utterance of a simple moral 
truth in a brief couplet or in a single epigrammatic 
sentence, have often in the world's history changed 
the opinions of thousands. 

Especially true was this of the written appeals 
and public addresses of the great anti-slavery lead- 
ers in this country for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury before the rebellion. He was indeed a dull and 
insensible man who during our anti-slavery crusade 
did not grow eloquent and become aggressive when 
writing and speaking of slavery as the great crime 



of h,s age and country. To me, as a boy, the men 
who made up this vanguard of anti-slave yJeato-s 
tZ^:2'T:,'' '" "f -■-"«-'«% great men, ,ne 

him tiead with heads erect, so that their prophetic 
eyes cauglH ti>e dawn of Freedom's coming n oVn 
They were brave, strong, self-reliant men whose 

"bm^dtT'f '^^'"'"'""^' *'-"■ g'-eat heats 
bun ed to break the fetters of the world " These 

men had no thought of witnessing during the'r 

so unselfishly espoused; they were tireless and in- 
vmc ble workers. The alluring promise of success 
nowhere held out to them hope of political rewarf 
To an unp(,pular cause they gave all they had of 
time, money and brains, not doubting that those 
whoshou d come after them would belbleto cm 

as ultimately to enact justiceinto law by "proclaim- 
ing liberty throughout all the land to alUhl in lab . 
ants thereof." Under this banner thev went forth 
conquering and to conquer, and in all" their iinpa t 
sioned appeals they ■'sounded forth the bugle t^t 
never called retreat." ^ 

To have voluntarily enlisted and fought with this 

n'tl-h mn,"™^,"'f' •'"'• ^'^"-y bannef was planted 
mtuumphonthe last citadel of American slavery 
IS an honor of which the humblest citizen and to 
children may justly be proud, an honor which >W 
grow brighter m all the coming years of the Bepu Wic 

armrthat7°""'^r«''" ' enlisted in this liberating 
ai my that I cannot fix the date 

Kent ckv 1 ? V^ '"""'^ '''' '^ ''''^'"^ « 
Kentucky I heard, with wondering emotions the 

first song in which a slave was represented asap^e^ 

mg to Ins captors for his freedom I was but nte 

hea.t, and, though I never saw it in print, I never 



forgot it. The verse of this song that arrested my 
attention and remained fixed in my memory is as 
clear to me to-night as it was more than half a cen- 
tury ago. 

It was the plaintive appeal of an escaped slave, in 
simple rhyme, such as slaves often sang to tunes 
with which all are familiar who have heard the old- 
fashioned plantation melodies. 

In that appeal to his captors 

" He showed the stripes his master gave, 
The branded scars — the sightless e3'e, 
The common badges of a slave, 
And said he would be free or die." 

I did not know until then that the slave-master 
had the right to whip, brand and maim his slave. 
It was at the home of this venerable anti-slavery 
man (who made the world better for his having lived 
in it) that I first learned this fact, and it was at his 
house that I first heard repeated many of the fiery 
utterances of Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky. After 
showing an appreciation of these anti-slavery senti- 
ments I was frequently lifted on a chair or table by 
our old anti-slavery neighbor and taught to declaim 
from the speeches of Cassius M, Clay and others. 
I was so fascinated by a paragraph from a speech 
made by Governor McDowell, of Virginia, that it 
always gave me pleasure to speak it, as I often did, 
with such earnestness as to secure me as honest ap- 
plause in that quiet anti-slavery household as any 
I ever commanded on the platform in after years. 

I never forgot that appeal of Governor McDowell, 
and often used it after I grew to manhood, and 
quoted it in one of my early speeches in Congress, as 
I again quote it here: 

"You may place the slave where you please, you 
may dry up to your uttermost the fountain of his 
feelings, the springs of his thought, you may close 
upon his mind every avenue to knowledge, and 
cloud it over with artificial night, you may yoke 



him to labor as an ox— which livetli only to work, 
and worketh only to live; yon may put "him under 
any jirocess which without destroying his value as 
a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational 
bemg-you may do all this; and yet, the idea that 
he was born free will survive it all. It is allied to 
his hope of immortality-it is the eternal part of his 
nature which oppi-ession cannot reach. It is a torch 
lit up m his soul by the hand of Deity, and never 
meant to be extinguished by the hand of man." 

I speak of these seemingly unimportant incidents 
of my boyhood to confirm what I said in opening 
touching the influence which one brave, truthful 
man can exercise over thousands, and to illustrate 
the tremendous power a single thought may often 
have over the acts and lives of reader and hearer. 
From my ninth to my thirteenth year my father was 
preaching on a circuit in the border counties of 
Kentucky and West Virginia, and afterwards in 
Southeastern Ohio. 

During our residence in Kentucky and West Vir- 
ginia I did not know a single abolitionist except the 
family which I have described, and not until I was 
in my seventeenth year did I meet and become ac- 
quainted with Cassius M. Clay and John G. Fee 
Sometime afterwards I met James G. Burney, who 
became the abolition candidate for President in' 1814 
The leaders of the church to which my father- 
belonged, and, indeed, the leadeis in all Southern 
churches in those days, publicly affirmed "that 
slavery ijer se could exist without sin," a doc- 
trine which I regarded then, as I do now, as a per- 
version of the teachings of Christ. It has always 
been a source of satisfaction to me that my mother, 
who was a conservative w^oman, never gave in her 
adhesion to this rascally defense of "the sum of 
all villainies." 

At that time, in all the border counties of Ken- 
tucky, slavery existed in a milder form than in any 
other part of the Southwest, and the slave owners 



whom I knew were much better men than one would 
in this day beHeve possible under any slave system. 

And yet the system in its practical working was so 
monstrous that before I had grown to manhood I 
had publicly pronounced against it, and, as many 
before me know, I fought it with an energy which 
never tired, and a faith which never faltered. 

While entertaining the anti-slavery opinions of 
Jefferson and the men of 1776, and everywhere pro- 
claiming them without concealment, I was elected 
to Congress in 1858, when in my thirty-fourth year, 
and for the first time took my seat in a deliberative 
body in the Thirty-sixth Congress during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Buchanan. 

At that time the pro-slavery conspirators were 
preparing for armed rebellion, and for the desperate 
attempt, which they soon made, to establish a slave 
empire on the ruins of the Republic. 

There I met many anti-slavery leaders of age and 
experience, to whose ranks I was eagerly welcomed. 

I entered upon the straight and narrow path that 
led to victory. I faltered but once. That was on the 
vote on the Crittenden Resolution in July, 186 1 . The 
vote was 117 yeas; noes, 2. Mr. Potter of Wisconsin 
and Mr. Riddle of Ohio voting No. 

I had been appealed to by almost every public man 
of my acquaintance in Washington and by my per- 
sonal and political friends to vote for the resolution, 
and not assume the responsibility of separating my- 
self at such a time and on so important a matter 
from my party. When my name was called I 
shook my head, as was then the custom; my name 
was called the second time, and I again shook my 
head, the blush of shame tinghng my face, as it has 
every time I have thought of that act or looked at 
the record since and read, "Not voting, J. M. Ash- 
ley." I never felt the sense of shame so keenly be- 
fore nor since; and turning to Mr. Corwin, my ven- 
erable colleague, as the vote was announced, I said, 



with emotion, "Governor fhcf n. 4-u 
act of mv i.-fl ^^""^^^^^^^ that IS the most cowardly 
ace or my Jife, and no power on earth c;h«n o^ 
nmke me repeat it." " Why General "t t! ^'? 
with evident warmth, ^^ I^^M^t^f:^'^ 

iSncu'n^J^tTT^ ^^ tl/moment!rrd:i 
nothinrnf T T *^ ^«««rehim that I intended 

<'id not aga . ,,ef„'; f'r'-'''^ ^'^ «'-' after this I 
I durins- mv 1 r "^ °"''°y question, nor did 

toS:;'i?ourz,r^^' ^''^^ ^ ^'"«'-«*^ ''^a' 

Great occasions produce great men Tlie State nf 

MiS™r':„dCl^en;, t'""*T' ^^''^^'■"-- Cabinet 
com in leadlSp "' "'° '■""''"' "^^' *" L'"" 

1841 "uuui ueneial Harrison in 

^^Z^^J''^ -- -ar secretary 

''i—.« opinion in^rt^S^r^^^^^^^^ 

wo^efan' r:\r1"'r'',^''"f'"'"°-- ^ ^-t 
coin. ■'■'^ '^'"''"' aud confidant of Lin- 

Benjamin F. Wade 1.1. ,ff 
tl.e enemy in the fitw'o' fo";!;:""™' ''''' '" ™««t 

cestfu" ^""■"'"'' '''''"' '»"««• fa.-sighted and sue 

-nce^HutehhSlIau;;-" ^^:'"' '^'"«'-™> ^^av.- 
Haye; and Sefd'""''^'"^' Schellaberger, Schenck, 



9 

Our War Governors, Dennisoii, Todd and Brough, 
unequaled as organizers and in administrative power. 

On the Democratic, side there were Senator Thur- 
man and Representatives Vallandigham, Pendleton, 
Cox and Morgan, with many able men in private 
life, who were active in demanding our "authority 
and precedents" for all we proposed, and much that 
we did for which we had no "precedent." 

In the army Ohio eclipsed the world. That won- 
derful triumvirate of commanders, Grant, Sherman 
and Sheridan, were without models and without 
equals. And then we had McPherson, Garfield, 
Stead man, Swayne, Cox and Buckland, and hun- 
dreds besides, who, on the field and in the forum, 
made the name of Ohio everywhere synonymous 
with great deeds and heroic acts. 

In such a cause, with such leaders, success was 
foreordained. 

When the official records of Congress during the 
administration of Mr. Buchanan are examined by 
the historian of the future, and the so-called com- 
promise proposition of the Union-saving Committee 
of thirty-three (of which Charles Francis Adams of 
Massachusetts was Chairman) is compared with the 
Thirteenth Amendment, which three years later be- 
came part of our National Constitution, it will be dif- 
ficult for him to find reasons for the extraordinary 
revolution in public opinion which these two pro- 
posed amendments to our National Constitution pre- 
sent./^ And here I wish I could walk backw^ard with 
averted gaze, and with the broad mantle of charity 
cover the political nakedness of our own beloved 
State, which, by the vote of its Legislature, com- 
mitted the indefensible folly of ratifying the pro- 
slavery amendment proposed by the Committee of 
thirty-three, and thus officially consented to its be- 
coming a part of our National Constitution. 

To me the propositions of the so-called "Peace 
Congress," over which ex-President John Tyler, of 



10 

Virginia, piesiclocl, were preposterous and offensive, 
and the " pledge " of the "Crittenden Resolution " a 
delusion and a snare, cunningly designed to paralyze 
and manacle us. 

Every sane man who to-day reads the numeious 
proi)osed constitutional amendments with wliicii 
Congress at that time was deluged will recognize tlie 
fact that they were all studicuisly and deliberately 
})repared for the avowed purpose of protecting 
slavery by new and more exacting guarantees. 

This celebrated Compromise Committee of thirty- 
three reported and recommended an amendment 
which practically made slavery perpetual. 

It was in these words: 

" Article I2th. No amendments shall be made 
" to the Constitution which shall authorize or give 
" Congress the power to abolish or interfere within 
" any State with the domestic institutions thereof, 
" including that of persons held to labor or service 
" by the laws of such State." 

Imagine, if you can, what the other propositions 
were, if this w^as the most favorable which the Com- 
promise Committee of thirty-three could obtain for 
us. 

Two days before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration this 
abasement was made to the slave barons by a two- 
thirds vote of both Houses of the Congress of the 
United States, and the act was approved by Presi- 
dent Buchanan. 

I do not believe a more shameless exhibition on 
the part of a civilized people. can be found in history. 

Prior to this proposed surrender to the slave 
barons, a number of the Southern States had passed 
ordinances of secession, and defiantly organized a 
govei-nment, with Jefferson Davis as President. 

That such humiliating concessions were as defense- 
less then as they would be now, and as offensive to 
the civilization of the nineteenth century, will not be 
questioned. 



11 

The nation had not then learned that\the sti;ength 
of a statesman li es in jhjs Jidel ity to j usticer— not in 
his concessions_^oj£gustice. 

Our official records, for near-ly half a century be- 
fore the Rebellion, presented one unbroken series of 
fruitless compromises with the slave barons, until 
in their pride and arrogance they believed themselves 
able to direct successfully any revolution and ride 
with safety any storm. 

At last we came to know that all our concessions 
were regarded by them as irrevocable; that nothing 
but new concessions would be accepted by them, 
and that they w^ould only consent to remain in the 
Union on the express condition that we should bind 
ourselves for all tmie to record their pro-slavery 
decrees in every department of the National and 
State governments. 

The rebels witnessed our efforts at an adjustment 
with shouts of derision and defiance, and said, " Now 
we have the Yankees on a down grade, and on the 
run." 

They learned afterwards to their sorrow that, 
however true this might have been under the lead- 
ership of Buchanan, it was no longer true under 
the leadership of Lincoln. Yet, alas! it is true, that 
immediately after the election of Mr. Lincoln and 
before his inauguration, many men who had been 
active anti-slavery men quailed before the approach- 
ing storm, which their own brave appeals for liberty 
had aided in producing. 

They comprehended what civil war, with all its 
attendant horrors, meant to a civilized people, and 
shrank from its terrible consequences, and as the 
acts of their representatives proved, they were will- 
ing to do everything in their power to avoid it. 
These timid anti-slavery men were representatives 
of the wealth, the manufacturing industry, the com- 
merce, the peaceful farm -life of the North and 
West, and the best civilization of the age. They 
were for peace; they believed in an appeal to the 



12 

conscience and heart of the nation, at the ballot box, 
and in loyally submitting to the verdict when ren- 
dered. They never would have a]ipealed from the 
ballot box to the cartridge box. The great heart of 
the North was still and for a time held its breath 
while re-echoing with hope the sentiment of their 
beloved Quaker Poet, when-, just before tlie Rebelh'on, 
he uttered this sublime prayer: 

" Perish witli liiin tlie tliouglit, 
That seeks, tlirough evil, good ; 
Long live the generous purpose 
Unstained by human blood." 

While I did not adopt, without qualification, the 
memorable utterances of Daniel O'Connell, the gi-eat 
Irish leader, when he declared "that no revolution 
was worth the shedding of one drop of human blood," 
I everywhere proclaimed " that in this coiuitry, so 
long as the press was free and speech was free, and 
the ballot was free, no revolution was worth the 
shedding of one drop of human blood." 

The speeches, appeals and acts of the leaders of 
the two sections were entirely characteristic. 

The Southern leaders, instead of quailing before 
the storm which their passionate appeals had raised, 
defiantly mounted and rode the storm, fit types of 
the barbarism which they championed. 

When the North, with the loyal men of the border 
States, fully comprehended the fact that there could 
be no peace nor union unless the Rebellion was 
suppressed by force, and slavery, which made the 
Rebellion possible, was abolished, they buckled on 
their armor and went forth to conquer. 

During the first session of Congress, after Mr. 
Lincoln became President, I introduced a bill for the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. It 
contained but one short section, and simply enacted 
" that slavery, or involuntary servitude, should cease 
in the District of Columbia from and after the pas- 
sage of this act." I sent it to 'the Committee on the 



District of Columbia, of which I was a member, and 
Eoscoe Conkhng, of New York, was chairman. 
When the bill was read in the District Committee, 
it was by common consent referred to me, as a sub- 
committee of one. The excitement and indignation 
which that bill caused in the District Committee, 
and the undisguised disgust entertained for me per- 
sonally by the pro slavery members of the Commit- 
tee, would be amusing now, but it was a matter of 
serious moment then. 

I felt certain that a majority of that Committee 
did not intend to let me report that bill or any other 
of like character to the House for a vote. As soon 
as it was known that I had the matter in charge, by 
direction of the District Committee Mr. Chase sent 
for me, and discussed the proposition which I had 
introduced, and suggested instead, a bill x\4iich should 
compensate the " loyal slave ownei's " by paying 
them a " ransom," which should not exceed three hun- 
dred doUais a head for each slave, and enforced his 
argument by adding that Mr. Lincoln was seriously 
considering the practicabihty of compensating the 
border States if they would take the initiative 
and emancipate their slaves, and he added, "I want 
you to see the President, and if possible prepare a 
bill which will conmiand the necessary votes of both 
Houses of Congress and the active support of the 
Administration." 

I saw the President next day and went over the 
ground with him, substantially as I had with Mr. 
Chase, and finally agreed that I would ask for the 
appointment of a Senator on the part of the Senate 
District Committee to unite with me to frame a bill, 
which the Senate and House Committees would re- 
port favorably, and which should have the Presi- 
dent's approval, and the support of as many of the 
Representatives from the border States as we could 
induce to vote to "initiate emancipation," as Mr. 
Lincoln expressed it. 



14 

Fortunately for the success of the compeusation 
policy, the Senate District Committee designated as 
that sub-committee-man, Lot M. Morrell, of Maine, 
to confer with me and prepare such a bill as Mr. 
Lincoln and Chase had outlined. 

After several meetings a bill was finally agreed 
upon which appropriated one million dollars to pay 
loyal owners for their slaves at a price not to exceed 
$300 each. 

This bill had the approval of: Mr. Lincoln and 
Chase and other anti-slavery leaders, before it was 
submitted to the District Committees for their action 
and recommendation to each House of Congress. 

Personally, I did not agree with Mr. Lincoln in 
his border State policy, but was unwilling to set up 
my judgment against his, especially when he was 
supported by such men as Chase, Fessenden, Trum- 
bull, and a large majoi-ity of Union men in both 
Houses of Congress. I therefore yielded my private 
opinions on a matter of policy, for reasons which I 
then gave and will presently quote, and because I 
was determined that that Congress should not ad- 
journ until slavery had been abolished at the 
National Capital. 

I did not want to appropriate a million of dollars 
from the National Treasury to pay the slave owners 
of the District of Columbia for their slaves, because 
I was opposed to officially recognizing property in 
man, and for the additional reason that I was con 
fident that before the close of the war slavery would 
be abolished without compensation. And I believed 
then, and believe now, that at least two thirds of all 
the so-called " loyal slave owners " in the District of 
Cohimbia who applied for and accepted compensation 
for their slaves, would at that time have welcomed 
Jefferson Davis and his government in Washington 
with eveiy demonstration of joy. 

On the 12th of March, 1SG2, by direction of the 
Committee for the District of Columbia, I i-eported 



15 

the bill to the House as it had been agreed upon by 
Mr. Morrell and myself, with the approval of Mr. 
Lincoln, Mr. Chase and others. 

On the 11th of April, 1802, the bill, as amended by 
the Senate, passed the House by a vote of 92 for to 
38 against, and at once received the signature of the 
President. 

In the speech which I delivered that day I said : 
"I do not believe that Congress has any more power 
to make a slave than to make a king," and added, 
"If then there is, as I claim, no power in Congress 
to reduce any man or race to slavery, it cei'tainly will 
not be claimed that Congress has power to legalize 
such regulations as exist to day touching persons 
held as slaves in this District by re-enacting the 
slave laws of Maryland, and thus do by indirection 
what no sane man claims authority to do directly.'' 
* * * " If I must tax the loyal people of the 
nation a million of dollars before the slaves at the 
National Capital can be ransomed I will do it. I will 
make a bridge of gold over which they may pass to 
freedom on the anniversary of the fall of Sumter, if 
it cannot be more justly accomplished." 

As the nation had been guilty of riveting the 
chains of all the slaves in the District, and Mr. Lin- 
coln and Mr. Chase, and so large a majority of the 
friends of the Union desired the passage of this act, 
believing that it would aid them in holding the border 
slave States, I yielded my own opinions, and voted 
to pay the loyal owners of the District for their 
slaves, and thus aided Mr. Lincoln in initiating 
emancipation by compensation. But events were 
stronger than men or measures, and this was the 
first and last of compensation. 

On the 14th of December, 1863, I introduced a 
proposition to amend the Constitution, abolishing 
slavery in all the States and Territories of the nation, 
which, on my motion, was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary. In a speech during that session 



16 

of Congress urging the submission of such an amend- 
ment, I said: "I advocated from the first the 
emancipation of all slaves, because I believed ideas 
more formidable than armies, justice moi'e powerful 
than prejudice, and truth a weapon mightier than 
the sword."' 

The fall of Vicksburg and the great victory of 
Gettysburg had solidified the Union men North and 
South, and assured them of ultimate success. 

The crushing defeat of Hood at Nashville by 
Thomas, the investment of Richmond by Grant, 
and Sherman's triumphant march from the moun- 
tains to the sea, was an announcement to the world 
that all armed opposition to the Government was 
approaching its end. 

It now only remained, that the statesmen who 
had provided for and organized our great armies 
should crown their matchless victories with un- 
fading glory, by engrafting into our National Con- 
stitution a provision which should make peace and 
union inseparable by removing forever the cause 
of the war, and making slavery everywhere impos- 
sible beneath the flag of the Republic. 

On the 15th of June, 1864, the House voted on the 
proposed constitutional amendment, and it was de- 
feated by a vote of 9-1 for it and 64 against it. I 
thereupon changed my vote before the announce- 
ment was made, as I had the right to do under the 
rules, and my vote was recorded with the opposition 
in order that I might enter a motion for reconsidera- 
tion. 

In the Globe, as the vote stands recorded, it is 03 
foi' to 65 against. This vote disappointed, but it did 
not discourage me. Had every member been present 
and voted, it would have required 122 votes to pass 
the amendment, whereas we could muster but 94, 
or 28 less than required. 

As I now look back, and review with calmer 
emotions than I did then the great battle we w^ere 



17 

fighting, I comprehend more fully the power of 
that simple and sublime faith which inspired all 
the living heroes in that historic hour. 

In his "Twenty Years of Congress" Mr. Blaine 
has given me credit, in full measure, for introducing 
and pressing the first proposition made in the House 
of Representatives for the abolition of slavery in the 
United States by an amendment to the National 
Constitution, and for effective parliamentary work 
in securing its passage. Personally, I never regarded 
the work which I then did as entitling me to special 
recognition. It was to me a duty, and because I so 
felt, I have never publicly written or spoken about 
my connection with it, and should not have done so 
before you to-night but for the pressing invitation 
of our President, who acts as if he regarded it as 
part of his duty, while charged with the care of 
this Society, to bring every modest Ohio man to the 
front. 

There was at that time so many noble and unself- 
ish men in the House of Representatives entitled to 
recognition for effective work in behalf of the Thir- 
teenth Amendment, that I have always preferred 
not to single out any one member a.s entitled to 
more credit than another. I certainly did not ex- 
pect any such complimentary recognition as Mr. 
Blaine has so generously given me. 

Educated in the political school of Jefferson, I 
was absolutely amazed at the solid Democratic vote 
aofainst the amendment on the 15th of June. To 
me it looked as if the golden hour had come, when 
the Democratic party could, without apology, and 
without regret, emancipate itself from the fatal 
dogmas of Calhoun, and reaffirm the doctrines of 
Jefferson. It had always seemed to me that the 
great men in the Democratic party had shown a 
broader spirit in favor of human liberty than their 
political opponents, and until the domination of Mr. 
Calhoun and his States-rights disciples, this was un- 



18 

doubtedly true. On the death of General Harrison in 
1S41, and after John Tyler became the acting Presi- 
dent, I date the organized conspiracy of the slave 
barons, which culminated in the Rebellion. 

A man of singleness of purpose and disinterested- 
ness, possesses a wonderful power wliich is soon re- 
cognized by his associates in the Congress of the 
United States. The leading men in both Senate and 
House, and in nearly all the executive departments, 
knew that my only ambition was to accomplish the 
task with which (as Mr. Blaine expresses it) I was 
"by common consent, specially charged." The only 
reward I expected, and the only reward I ever had, or 
shall ever have, is the satisfaction of knowing that I 
did my whole duty, nothing more, nothing less. I at 
once gave special care to the study of the characters 
and antecedents of thirty-six of the members who 
did not vote foi- the amendinent on the 15th of June, 
and made up my mind that if we could force the issue 
of the Thirteenth Amendment into the pending pres- 
idential contest, and Mr. Lincoln should be elected 
in November, that the requisite number of liberal 
Democrats and border State Union men who had 
voted against and defeated the amendment in June 
might be prevailed upon to vote with us after Mr. 
Lincoln had been re-elected on that issue. In this 
faith, and with this hope, I at once began a system- 
atic study of the characters of the men whose co- 
operation and votes must be secured as a condition 
to success. 

During this six months' experience I learned 
something of the tremendous power of a single man 
when making earnest appeals to his colleagues. One 
source of ever-present embarrassment to me was the 
fact that I had but little experience in legislation, 
and that nearly every one of my colleagues to whom 
I was addressing myself was my senioi' in years. 
In this great work I had the earnest support of the 
Administration, the great majority of the Republican 



19 

party, and many earnest men in public and private 
life. 

On the 2Sth of June, 1864, Mr. Hoi man, of In- 
diana, rose in the House, and said " that he de- 
sired to know whether the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Ashley) who entered the motion to reconsider 
the vote by which the House rejected the bill pro- 
posing an amendment to the Constitution abolish- 
ing slavery throughout all the States and Territories 
of the United States, proposed to call that motion 
up during the present session." In reply, I said 
that I did not propose to call the motion up dur- 
ing the present session; " but as the record had been 
made up, we would go to the country on the issue 
thus presented." And I added: " When the verdict 
of the people shall have been rendered next Novem- 
ber, I trust this Congress will return determined to 
engraft that verdict into the National Constitution." 
I thereupon gave notice that I would call up the 
proposition at the earliest possible moment after our 
meeting in December next (See Globe, June 28th, 
1864). 

Immediately after giving this notice, I went to 
work to secure its passage, and it may not be unin- 
teresting if I outline to you the way I conducted that 
campaign. 

The question thus presented became one of the 
leading issues of the Presidential Campaign of 1864. 

The Administration — the Kepublican party — and 
many men who were not partizans, now gave the 
measure their warm support. 

Knowing that Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland, 
and Frank P. Blair, of Missouri, would vote for the 
amendment whenever their votes would secure its 
passage, I went to them to learn who of the border- 
State members were men of broad and liberal views, 
and strong and self-reliant enough to follow their 
convictions, even to political death, provided they 
could know that their votes would pass the measure. 



20 



1.7 ifr^'''^ '^ ^'^« list of the names of the 
border-State men, as made up within two weeks 
after the defeat of the amendment m Jnne, 1S64- 
James S. RolHns, Henry S. Blow. Benjamin F. Loan ' 

r T'JTfn^- ^- ^^^^' ^-"k P. Blair a"d 
Joseph W. McClurg of Missonri; Green Clay Smith 
George H. Yeaman, Brntus J. Clay and Lucius 
Anderson of Kentucky; John A. J. Cresswell, Gov 
Francis J. homas, E. H. Webster and Henry Winter 
Davis of Maryland; Kellian V. Whaley, Jacob P 
Blair, and William G. Brown of West Virginia, and 
N. B Smithers of Delaware. Of the 19 thus selected 
lo voted for the amendment, and marched to their 
political death. 

After conferring with Reuben E. Fenton and 
Augustus Frank of New York, I made up the follow- 
ing hst of liberal Northern Democrats, whose votes 
i hoped to secure for the amendment- 

Moses F. Odell, Homer A. Nelson, John A. Gris- 

wlfi tT'w-ir '''''^^' '^"^^^ ^- ^'^^^^l^' Charles F. 
Winfield, William Radford and John Ganson of New 

lork; S S. Cox. Warren P. Noble, Wells A. Hut- 
chins, John F. McKenney and Francis C. Le Blond 
of Ohio; Archibald McAllister and Alex. H. Coffroth 
of Pennsylvania; James E. English of Connecticut 
and Augustus C. Baldwin of Michigan. 

Of the 17 Northern Democrats thus selected 
eleven voted for the amendment, two were absent' 
and one who had promised me to vote for it and pre- 
pared a speech in its favor, finally voted against. 
Ot the 3b members originally selected as men natur- 
ally inclined to favor the amendment, and strong 
enough to meet and repel the fierce partisan attack 
which were certain to be made upon them, 24 voted 
tor it, two were absent, and but fen voted against it 
Every honorable effort was made by the Admin^ 
istration to secure the passage of this amendment 

At my request Tuesday, January SJst, 1S65, was 
the day fixed for the vote to be taken on the amend- 
nif'nr 



21 

A faithful record of the final act of the 3Sth Con- 
gress on this question will be found on pages 523 to 
531 of the Congressional Globe. 

The Speaker stated the question, and announced 
" That the gentleman from Ohio was entitled to the 
floor," which under the rules gave me one hour in 
which to close the debate. 

Never before, and certain I am that never again, 
will 1 be seized with so strong a desire to give utter- 
ance to the thoughts and emotions which throbbed 
my heart and brain. 

I knew that the hour was at hand when the world 
would witness the complete triumph of a cause, 
which at the beginning of my political life I had not 
hoped to live long enough to see, and that on that 
day, before our session closed, an act, as just as it 
was merciful to oppressor and oppressed, was to be 
enacted into law, and soon thereaftei" became a part 
of our National Constitution forever. 

The hour and the occasion was an immortal one 
in the Nation's history, and memorable to each 
actor who voted for the amendment. 

Every available foot of space, both in the galleries 
and on the floor of the House, was crowded at an 
early hour, and many hundred could not get within 
hearing. Never before, nor afterwards, did I see so 
brilhant and distinguished a gathering in that hall, 
nor one where the feeling was more intense. The 
Judges of the Supreme Court, the members of the 
Cabinet, the Vice-President and Senators, most of 
the foreign Ministers and all the distinguished 
visitors who could secure seats, with their wives, 
daughters and friends, were present to witness the 
sublimest event in our National life. 

You will readily understand that this was an oc- 
casion to inspire an}^ man of my temperament with 
a strong desire to speak, and yet it was beyond ques- 
tion my duty to yield all my time to gentlemen of 
the opposition, who had promised to vote for the 



22 



amendment, and desi.-ed to have recorded in the 
official orsan of the House tlie reasons for he vote 
which they were about to give 

The first gentleman to whom I yielded was the 
Hon. Archibald McAllister of Pennsylvania an oW 
fashioned Democrat of the Jackson scho^ He vvas 
not aspeaker, and the brief " statement," as he ca Id 
it, which he sent to the Clerk's desk to b; read foi 1 im 
as he stood on the floor, with every eye in ha 

imnli^f- "Tf ^"t^'-^-'ly the reasons which 
impelled him and thousands of other loyal and con 

aCthirr *° 'rr '"« ■•™™«"--^tJaboi;tio„™f 

slaveiy that I quote what he said entire 

f will read it to you, and repeat what he said as 
nearly as I can with the same intonation of viice 

"mrri" ''"''/■' "^ "" '" '">■ ««"-""" 
convened ^'"'"^' " '"' "'""'^^ '"'^'"' "'' H™«e 



thfv shoL I T' '•"" *" '"^ '=°"«tit"e"ts that 

heTould of "T "^^^ ''" "^""'^"'^ ^'' ^°'«' ^'«1 "'at 

that hiV ! ' ^ """""''• ^l'^' '^« ^^•'^^ «» "er-ous 
that he dare not even trust himself to read what he 

had written, and asked me if I would yield him the 

desk Zl b™"^' 'V^",""' '™ '° ''"'' *° «- Clerk' 
desk and have read what he desired to say to his 

constituents." I never was more anxious to yie d t e 
'•cirtv r'rV'r' ' "'^^ '<> '"■'"• -^d --veied! 

youl k "VeT;: '''^'T' '° ^'^'^y°" all the time 
you ask. He then read me this short, and now his- 
torical, speech, and I said to him the,, as I sav to 
you now, that it was, nnder all the circumstances 
the best and most eloc,ue„t speech delivered in tS 
House of Representatives in favor of the Thirteenth 
rtdt.r," . "-''' '' "^^ «' -^ «'e way l^'e 



read it to me: 
foi 



rml^occailon 'fi"'f Y"' ^"^^^'^ ^^^'« House on a 
imei occasion, I voted aganist the measure. I 



28 

have been in favor of exhausting all means of 
conciliation to restore the Union as our fathers 
made it. I am for the whole Union and utterly 
opposed to secession, or dissolution in any shape. 
The result of all the peace missions, and especi- 
ally that of Mr. Blair, has satisfied me that 
nothing short of the recognition of their inde- 
pendence will satisfy the Southern Confederacy. It 
must therefore be destroyed, and in voting for the 
present measure, I cast my vote against the corner- 
stone of the Southern Confedei'acy, and declare 
eternal war against the enemies of my country." 

As soon as he had finished reading it, I grasped his 
hand with enthusiasm, and heartily congratulated 
him, and said, " Mr. McAllister, that is a better and 
more telling speech by far than any which has been 
made for the amendment, and I believe that it will 
be quoted hereafter more than any speech made in 
Congress in its favor." 

When the Clerk of the House finished reading this 
brief speech of this plain, blunt man, it called forth 
general applause on the floor and in the galleries, 
and when I afterwards read it to Mr. Lincoln, Chase 
and others, they were then as pronounced in its en- 
dorsement as I am now. 

To the end that there should be no pretext for 
" fihbustering" (as I knew the amendment might be 
defeated in that way), I determined from the start 
to so conduct the debate that every gentleman op- 
posed to the amendment who cared to be heard 
should have ample time and opportunity. 

After the previous question had been seconded, 
and all debate ordered closed, there could be but two 
roll-calls (if there were no filibustering) before the 
final vote. 

The first roll-call was on a motion made by the 
opposition, to lay my motion to reconsider on the 
table. Such a motion is generally regarded as a test 
vote. 

Hundreds of tally sheets had been distributed 



24 

on the floor and in the galleries, many being in 
the hands of ladies. Before the result of the 
first roll-call was announced, it was known all over 
the House that the vote was tvm less than the nec- 
essary two-thirds, and both Mr. Stevens of Pennsyl- 
vania and Mr. Washburn of Illinois excitedly ex- 
claimed: "General, we are defeated." ''No, 
gentlemen, we are not," was my prompt answer. 
The second vote was on my motion to reconsider, 
which would bring the House, at the next roll-call, 
to a direct vote on the passage of the amendment. 

The excitement was now the most intense I ever 
witnessed; the oldest members, with the Speaker 
and the reporters in the galleries, believed that we 
were defeated. When the result of the second vote 
was announced, we lacked one vote of two-thirds, 
whereupon many threw down their tally sheets and 
admitted defeat. I now arose and stood, while the 
roll was being called on the final vote and said to 
those around me, that we would have not less than 
four (4), and I believed seven (7) majority over the 
necessary two-thirds. 

As the roll was completed, the Speaker directed 
that his name be called as a member of the House, 
and when he voted he announced to an astonished 
assemblage, "that the yeas were 11!>, and the nays 
56, and that the bill had received the two-thirds 
majority required by the Constitution." It was a 
moment or two before the House or the galleries 
recovered from their surprise and recognized the 
fact that we had triumphed. When they did, a shout 
went up fiom the floor and galleries, and the vast 
audience rose to their feet, many members jumi)ing 
on their desks, with shouts and waving of hats and 
handkerchiefs, and gave vent to their feelings by 
every demonstration of joy. It was a scene such as 
I had never before witnessed, and shall never wit- 
ness again. 

Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois said: "Mr. Speaker, in 



lii) 



honor of this sublime and immortal event, I move 
that this House do now adjourn," which motion 
was carried. 

When this vote was taken, the House had but 1S5 
members, 94 of whom were Kepublicans, 64 Demo- 
crats, and 25 border-State Union men. 

If the vote is analyzed, it will be seen that of the 
119 votes recorded for the amendment 13 were hy- 
men from the border States, and eleven (11) were 
by Democrats from the free States. If but 3 out of 
the 24, who voted with us, had voted against the 
amendment it would have failed. If but four (4) of 
the S members who were absent had appeared and 
voted against, it would have been lost. Had all the 
Northern Democrats who supported the amendment 
voted against, it would have been defeated by 26 
votes. Had all the border-State men who voted for 
it, voted against, it would have failed by 32 votes. 

If the border-State men and Northern Democrats 
who voted for the amendment had voted against, it 
would have failed by 65 votes. 

Mr. Lincoln was especially delighted at the vote 
which the amendment received from the border 
slave States, and frequently congratulated me on 
that result. 

Bancroft, the historian, has drawn with a graphic 
pen the characters of many of the able and illus- 
trious men of the Ee volution which achieved our 
independence. In writing of George Mason, of 
Virginia, he said: "His sincerity made him wise 
and bold, modest and unchanging, with a scorn for 
anything mean and cowardly, as illustrated in his- 
unselfish attachment to human freedom." And 
these identical qualities of head and heart were 
pre-eminently conspicuous in all the border states- 
men who voted for the Thirteenth Amendment. 

It would be difficult in any age or country to find 
grander or more unselfish and patriotic men than 
Henry Winter Davis and Governor Francis Thomas 



26 

of Maryland, or Jarnerf S. Rollins, Frank P. Blair 
and Governor King of Missouri, or George H. Yea- 
man of Kentucky, or N. P. Smithers of Delaware, 
and not less worthy of mention for their unchanging 
fidelity to principle are all the Northern Democrats 
who voted for the amendment, prominent among 
whom I may name Governor English, of Connecticut; 
Judge Homer A. Nelson and Moses S. Odell, of New 
York ; Archibald McAllister, of Pennsylvania ; 
Wells A, Hutchins, of Ohio, and A. C. Baldwin, of 
Michigan, 

Of the twenty-four border State and Northern men 
who made up this majority which enabled us to win 
this victory, all had defied their party discipline, 
and had deliberately and with unfaltering faith 
marched to their political death. These are the 
men whom our future historians will honor, and to 
whom this nation owes a debt of eternal gratitude. 

But seven of this twenty-four are now living, the 
others have gone to • 

" Join the choir invisible 
Of those immortal dead, who live again 
In minds made better by their presence ; live 
In pulses stirred to generosity, 
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 
For misei'able aims that end with self." 



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